Life on the sea rocks

I took this one of the rocks on the shore line of Longstone Island, Northumberland, whilst sitting on the boat waiting to sail back to Seahouses. It's incredible how much life there is in one small section of rock - weeds, molluscs, algae etc - so many lovely shapes, colours and textures!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/10, 1/100s, 116mm, hand held.

Rusting wheels in the sea at Longstone Island

I noticed these big iron wheels in the water on Longstone Island, one of the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, whilst we were wandering round looking at the seals. I was really struck by the lovely colours of the rusting metal alongside the green moss on the rocks. I thought it funny at the time that I was photographing rusting metal wheels whilst everyone else was still photographing the seals!

I have to admit to a big post-production 'cheat' on this one though. The sky was totally flat grey, albeit very bright, and it really let the picture down. So I created a blue sky and corresponding reflection in the water by using 2 graduated filters (one from the top, one from the bottom, both at angles) - reducing exposure and temperature in each.